Exploring technical implications and design opportunities for interactive and engaging telepresence robots in rehabilitation – results from an ethnographic requirement analysis with patients and health-care professionals

This paper explores technical implications and design opportunities that are conceptualized to inform a socio-robotic system with digital applications to support the recovery process of patients within a rehabilitation facility. By conducting observations and interviews with patients and therapists, we identified key challenges and design opportunities in a specific orthopaedic rehabilitation context and process. The findings indicate the design potentials of a socio-robotic system to enhance patient engagement and recovery by providing personalized activities, a meaningful interaction and a motivating surrounding by using music-based exercises. Our research suggests that integrating digital applications with robotic systems may be used in the long-run to offer tailored exercises, stimulating concepts to motivate and maintain patients in therapy process, real-time feedback, and data-driven progress tracking, thereby improving the overall therapeutic outcomes. By addressing these factors, our proposed socio-robotic system aims to create a more interactive and engaging orthopaedic rehabilitation experience and environment, ultimately supporting patient recovery and improving overall treatment.